US donors baulk at pope’s plea for $25m

The Vatican is facing another financial headache after donors to a major US Catholic foundation baulked at a request from Pope Francis to foot a $25 million (Dh91.81 million) loan to a scandal-plagued Rome hospital.

The Immaculate Institute for Dermatology made headlines in 2013 when prosecutors discovered a nearly $1 billion hole in its accounts and placed 40 people, including its priestly director, under investigation for alleged money laundering, fraudulent bankruptcy and other crimes. In May, prosecutors handed down 24 indictments.

The Vatican took over the hospital rather than let it fail, fearing for the livelihoods of its staff. But the hospital has struggled, and last summer the Vatican asked for a bridge loan from the US-based Papal Foundation, a major source of funding for the Vatican’s charity works around the globe.

Started 30 years ago, the foundation has disbursed some $100 million for papalendorsed charity projects, including $32,000 to buy an electric generator for a religious congregation in Benin last year, $100,000 to build a new seminary building in Brazil and $70,000 to build a primary school for poor children in Bangladesh. For their generosity, donors get a special papal audience each year.

Overruled by cardinals

But according to leaked foundation documents published by the conservative Catholic website Lifesite, several “stewards” or donors to the foundation opposed the loan, given the amount requested, the lack of due diligence about the hospital’s financials and the process by which American cardinals overruled the donors to approve the pope’s request.

“These recent actions will make it virtually impossible to recruit new stewards or to retain the membership of many current stewards,” warned the chairman of the foundation’s audit committee in a letter.